The global COVID-19 pandemic caused a severe blow to the world economy, bringing the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression. This economic downturn was accompanied by various controversies regarding the role of the state in the economy. To withstand these shocks, most of the states...

The use of large fiscal stimulus packages to dampen the impact of Covid-19 recently has raised concerns about the effectiveness of the discretionary fiscal policy. This paper aims at analysing the feasibility of automatic fiscal stabilisers to mitigate economic fluctuations in the case of...

The outbreak was declared a pandemic by the WHO on March 11 and the epicenter of the crisis has moved from China and Korea to the US and Western Europe. Infections are also increasing at a rapid pace in WBG client countries, with large uncertainty about the extent to which many countries are...

This note analyzes the short-term effects of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) shock during the first year of the crisis and presents alternative medium-term recovery scenarios. It asks a set of questions, and in answering those questions, provides policy suggestions for the Vietnamese...

A joint IMF and World Bank team conducted virtual missions to Georgia during January-February 2021 and May-June 2021, to update the findings of the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) conducted in 2014. This report summarizes the main findings of the mission, identifies key financial...